Folding or wardrobe bedstead



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

P. B. WILLIAMS FOLDING 0R WARDROBE BEDSTEAD.

No. 376,127. Patented Ja, 8.

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FITZALLAN B. \VILIJIAMS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FOLDING OR WARDROBEBEDSTEAD.

fiPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 376,127, dated January 10, 1888.

Application filed March 26,1887. Serial No. 232,459. No model.) I

To aZZ whom it vii/any concern:

Be it known that I, FITZALLAN B. WIL- LIAMS, of Chicago, Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding or Wardrobe Bedsteads, of which the following is a specification;

The invention relates to improvements in folding or wardrobe bedsteads in which a counter-poise is employed to assist in the opening and closing of the bed; and the objects of the improvements are, first, to provide improved means for causing the pivot or fulcrum on which the folding frame rests to shift toward the headboard during the operation of raising the folding frame from a horizontal to a vertical position and from the same during the operation of lowering the folding frame from a vertical to a horizontal'position, and, second, to provide improved means for supporting the counterpoise and connecting it with the uprightframe and sliding headboard in such manner as to require comparatively small Weight to balance the folding frame. I

attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, of Which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a wardrobebedstead containing the invention, the folding frame being let down to a horizontal position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same with the folding frame in a vertical position. Fig. 3

isa rear view of the bed with the folding frame in the same position as shown in Fig. 2. Figs. 4 and 5 are details.

A designates the stationary or upright frame, and B the folding or swinging frame, both of which may be of the ordinary construction. The upright frame is provided with rear crosspieces, a, at the top and bottom, and also a similar cross-piece in front, at a, to hold the base together in frontin the usual manner. The head-board B is fitted into grooves in the inner faces of the uprights, near the rear edge thereof, so as to slide up and down therein freely. These grooves may be readilyjformed by fastening a couple of cleats, as a", upon each side a little distance apart, so that the head-board or metal T-heads, as a in dotted lines, set in the edge thereof at the bottom and top may project into the space between and slide up and down therein. The upper edge of the head end of the swinging or folding frame is hinged to the bottom of the headboard in the ordinary way, so that as it is let I I down toa horizontal position the headboard will thereby be raised, and as it is raised to a vertical position the head-board will be low- ,ered to the position in which it is seen in attaching them to the side rails.

The trunnions are of sufficient length, so that by making holes through the side rails adapted to receive them the plates may be applied and-secured on the inside of the rails, and they will project through the proper distance beyond the outer surface of the rails to engage in seats provided in the supports. These supports consist of swinging trunnion plates or bars E, secured, one on each side, to the stationary or upright frame bymeans of two links, e 6, one of which, 6, is pivoted to the base of the upright below the plate and likewise pivoted to the'front end thereof at 6", so as to support it from below, and the other, e, is pivoted at its top to the upright above the plate, and has its lower end likewise connected to the rear end of the plate E at 6 so as to support it from above. I prefer to make the lower links the heavier and place the trunnion-seats 6 near to the front ends of the plates, so that the lower links will sustain the greater part of the weight of the folding frame.

By such 1ink-connection of the trunnionplates with the upright frame said plates are permitted to swing toward and from the headboard during the operation of closing and opening the bed, so as to allow the head-board to slide up and down in its groove without lateral movement, tending to cause it to bind in the groove. The connection of the links so as to support the trunnion-plates from below at one end and from above at the other, the

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afi'ord a shifting of the fulcrum in operation steads, Serial No. 210,400, filed by me August which is superior both in extent and ease of I 9, 1886, six levers are used and the links 6c movement to anything that has yet come un- 1 by which the weight is suspended have their der my observation.

The plates b, provided with trunnions b and screw-holes to adapt them to be fastened to the side rails, and the swinging trunnionplates E, having links 6 e, pivotally connected and provided with a socket, c", for the trunnions, are designed to be made and sold in sets consisting of two of said plates b and two of the trunnion-plates, adapted to be attached to any wardrobe-bedstead of the class mentioned.

I am aware that the patent, No. 349,613, of September 21, 1886, to Gould and Cook, shows a folding bed having two links on each side, pivoted at one end to the upright frame and at the other to the folding frame, one of such links extending upward from the point of its connection with the folding frame and the other downward from its point of connection with said frame. Such is not my invention, not only because the trunnion-plates are wanting, but because the operation is different. By supporting the folding frame on a single trunnion or pivot on each side resting on a swinging trunnion plate, as by my construction, the amount of its movement toward and from the back of the upright frame is not fixed or positive, but adapted to the position of the weight or head-board. The front end of the folding frame, when the bed is closed oropened, will not describe an are, but by the swinging of the plates more or less will follow the vertical plane in which the weight is made to move, whereas by the prior construction the amount of the movement is necessarily fixed and governed by the links themselves, and if a counterpoise-weight were connected to the head end of the folding frame it would necessarily move in an arc in operation.

The weight is placed in a weight-holder, F, which is suspended by bars f to the ends of two levers, G, which are connected atf to the top of an upright piece, F, bolted to the rear side of the sliding head-board, so as to support said levers. To the top ends of these levers are pivoted two links, G G, pivotally connected at their upper ends to the cross piece a of the upright frame, said links and levers forming a pair of lazy-tongs, whereby the weight will be raised as the sliding headboard rises through greater distance than the distance said head-board moves.

A system of-levers forming lazy-tongs for raising the weight is shown, and in a prior application for a patent for wardrobe-bedupper ends attached to the lower pair of levers at or near their longitudinal center, and their lower ends are attached directly to the weight; but in my present invention only four levers are used, and the suspending links or bars f are attached to the extreme ends of the lower pair of levers and provided with hooks at their lower ends adapted to engage eyes in the weiglitholder F, so as to be disengaged therefrom.

The weightholder is a receptacle into which one or more bars of weight may be placed in order to vary the weight, and thus adapt the amount thereof to different requirements.

The construction is thus simplified and made lighter and at less cost, and the weight is made readily detachable. The purpose here is to cover the improvement merely, and not the broader invention, as shown in my said prior application.

lVhat I claim is- 1. The combination, with the upright and folding frames, of swinging trunnion-plates E, said plates being supported on the upright frame by being connected thereto, at opposite points on the inside, at their front ends by pivotal links, as e, supporting them from below and at their, rear ends by pivotal links, as e, supporting them from above, being thus adapted to engage the trunnions of the folding frame and afford them a free movement toward and from the back of the upright frame, substantially as specified.

2. A set of irons for a wardrobe-bedstead, said irons consisting of two trunnion-plates, E, provided with pivotal links 6 e and trunnionsockets e, and two plates, 1), each provided with screw-holes at the ends and a trunnion, I), in the center, substantially as specified.

3. As an improvement in wardrobe-bedsteads, the combination, with the weightholder F, which consists of a receptacle provided with eyes at or near each end, of the rodsf, having hooks formed on their lower ends, and the lazy-tongs formed of levers G G and G G, said rods f being pivoted to the lower ends of levers G, said levers G being pivoted to support F on the sliding headboard, and said levers G being pivoted to the upright frame at the top, substantially as specified.

FITZALLAN B. WILLIAMS.

Vitncsses:

J NO. H. WHIPPLE, JAMES R. DEAN. 

